Chapter 1214 – Setting sights on their future celebrity endorsers

“Manager Feng, our overseas sales for the last quarter had entered a bottleneck. The first quarter of this year is ending, but our sales are still not improving. I know winter is the off-peak season for beverage sales. Still, the two Cola giants had started an aggressive marketing campaign in Europe and the US. If we don’t take any measures, our beverages, other than tea beverages and energy drinks, might enter negative growth.”

The two Cola giants do not only have carbonated drinks. They have fruit juice beverages too. But these beverages are under the brands they acquired. In the carbonated drinks market, they are still the biggest. With aggressive advertising and their partners’ help and distribution channels, they quickly suppressed the Chinese Beverage Alliance’s products.

Suppose it wasn’t for the contracts with the big supermarket chains and the energy drinks and tea beverages. In that case, the Beverage Alliance might have suffered losses last year.

“What do you suggest we should do first?”

“Increase our brand awareness. We need more advertisements and promotions. Our investment in advertising last year is too low. I think we should continue to advertise aggressively.”

Feng Yu frowned. “Advertisement is a must. The two Cola companies had never stopped advertising. But how are we going to advertise? Which media should we use? This must be considered carefully.

“We will still focus on TV advertisements. Although the internet is developing very fast, internet users are still lagging behind TV viewers. Also, when most people finish work, they will choose to watch TV.” Zhong Qingxian said.

“Ok. Since this is the case, we must advertise with TV stations with channels that are aired all over the country. Their peak-period advertising slots are very expensive and are even higher than our CCTV. But the number of viewers is much lesser than CCTV. Have you calculated if this is worthwhile?”

“But this is our only solution to promote our products. Also, I think we can hire more popular celebrities for endorsements. But this will increase our advertising cost further.”

“Who are you going to hire?”

“Athletes or movie stars. These are the two that are very popular with the consumers. We can also consider singers. What’s most important is that their public image must be good and leave a lasting impression on the consumers. It would be best if we can get both men and women.”

“That means you have someone in mind. Tell me, who are you targeting?”

“For athletes, football (Soccer) has the most fans, followed by basketball and tennis, athletics, etc. I am thinking of signing a football star and a basketball star. Our contracts with the football athletes had ended, and their popularity had declined. That’s why I feel we need to change. We are thinking of signing Beckham, but he is currently endorsing Pepsi.”

Feng Yu broke out in cold sweat. Beckham is currently the football celebrity with the highest commercial value. You really dare to dream!

“Do you have anyone else in mind?”

“Yes. Oliver Kahn, German goalkeeper. But Coca-Cola is in talks with him, and they are making a high offer.”

The No.1 goalkeeper, Kahn? This is a good choice, but Feng Yu remembered Brazil had won the World Cup this year. That’s right. Ronaldinho shot to fame after this World Cup!

“Have you all contacted Ronaldinho? He is from Brazil.”

“Huh? I have not heard of him.” Zhong Qingxian looks puzzled. He had heard of Ronaldo, but who is Ronaldinho? Ronaldo’s son?

“You have not heard of him? That’s great. This means he is still not famous yet. Go and contact his agent and sign a long-term contract with him.”

“For basketball, Carter is still under contract with us. Just continue to use him. Oh, also sign Yao Ming too. He will be a great player in the future and can attract our domestic market.”

“For tennis, there is a player called Roger Federer. See if it is possible to sign him. For women, you can pick a Russian tennis player, Maria Sharapova.”

Zhong Qingxian quickly wrote down these names.

“We should also start planning ahead. Those big sportswear brands start sponsoring young athletes and will sign contracts with them once they turn professional. We can also do the same and offer some athletes long-term contracts for sponsorship. They are not famous now and will not be expensive.”

“Manager Feng, what if they did not do well in the future? Our investments will be wasted.”

Feng Yu rolled his eyes at Zhong Qingxian. “Which investment is 100% risk-free? This is similar to venture capital investment. Since those sportswear companies dare to take the risk, why can’t we do the same? More importantly, those well-known athletes had been signed by them. How are you going to bring them over? The penalty of breaking the contract is astronomical!”

Feng Yu had only made this remark casually, but the more he thought, the more he thought it would work. Those top athletes in the future are still unknowns now. If he can sign them now, he can save a lot in the future. This might seem to be a bad decision now, but it will be advantageous in the future.

Also, these athletes are not going to endorse beverage products only. They can also endorse other products for Wind and Rain electronics, Songjiang cars, etc.

Yes. We can sign a package endorsement deal with them!

“Alright. We will look out for outstanding young athletes. Do you have anyone to recommend?”

“There is a Spanish tennis player call Nadal. He is still a newcomer in tennis. For football, go and sign a Portuguese player named Ronaldo. He should be younger than 18 years old now, but he will be a great player in the future. For track and field, look out for a kid named Usain Bolt. He is from Jamaica.”

“Manager Feng, how do you know about these people?” Zhong Qingxian asked curiously.

“Oh, I heard from Mr. Li Ning that they are going to get some foreign athletes to endorse for their products. So, I got my men to help. That’s when I realized most of the young athletes had been signed by Nike, Adidas, etc., at a young age, and this is why I got this idea.”

Zhong Qingxian nodded.

“What about movie stars?”

“We had been working well with Johnny Depp, and we should extend his contract. Also, Matt Damon had just signed an endorsement deal with Wind and Rain Mobile phone. You can contact him. I think he is not endorsing any beverage companies. He had acted in <Saving Private Ryan> and had also won the Oscar.”

Those are all in the past. But <The Bourne Identity> will be screened this year, and Matt Damon’s fame will rise furthermore.

“Alright. I had taken down all the names. I will get my men to contact them and will inform you once we signed them.”

Oliver Kahn

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